German candidates clash on euro and taxes in tight TV duel… ‘Deadly austerity’

BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democrat challenger in this month’s German election clashed over the euro, tax policy and U.S. spying in a television debate on Sunday that produced no clear winner.

The only TV duel of the campaign, watched by an estimated 15 million viewers, was one of SPD candidate Peer Steinbrueck’s last chances to change the momentum in a race in which he has trailed the popular Merkel from the very start.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and her opposition challenger have clashed over her strategy for handling the euro-zone crisis in a TV debate – as he accused her of prescribing a “deadly dose” of austerity.

Social Democrat candidate Peer Steinbrück said the government’s crisis strategy had failed: “what is lacking is a rebuilding program, what is lacking is a growth impulse.”

Mrs Merkel defended her record, pointing out that Germany had escaped high unemployment and was “the motor of growth, the anchor of stability” in Europe.